EXCLUSIVE: Jacksonville company poised to buy Sarasota Quay

Aerial photo showing the former Sarasota Quay property along Tamiami Trail in downtown Sarasota. To the left, (south) is the Ritz-Carlton. To the right, (north) is the Hyatt Regency Sarasota. (Oct. 10, 2012; Herald-Tribune staff photo by Mike Lang)

Published: Thursday, January 9, 2014 at 3:56 p.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, January 9, 2014 at 3:56 p.m.

SARASOTA - The terms of the deal have not been finalized, but it appears a Jacksonville development company is poised to buy one of downtown's premier properties — the former Sarasota Quay.

GreenPointe Holdings LLC, which has been buying distressed developments in Florida at rapid clip since 2010, sent its president to meet with Sarasota's city manager earlier this week.

An email message from the firm's attorney to Sarasota Mayor Shannon Snyder confirms that GreenPointe intends to buy the 14-acre, waterfront property between the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota and the Hyatt Regency.

The former Quay land has been vacant since early 2007, when an Irish developer razed the nine-story Quay as part of $1 billion plan to develop the site with hundreds of condominiums, retail space and restaurants, a hotel and offices.

Developer Irish American Management Services Ltd. was unable to bring its plan to fruition when the local real estate market collapsed. In August, a successor to lender Anglo-Irish Bank PLC seized the property through foreclosure.

Anglo-Irish was absorbed by an Irish government entity established to deal with soured real estate loans. In the case of the Quay, Irish American had amassed roughly $100 million in debt on the property.

It could not be determined whether GreenPointe — if it acquires the land — will attempt to develop the 695 residences, 175-room hotel rooms and 189,000 square feet of commercial space Irish American had planned.

Representatives from GreenPointe did not return calls, and an agent for the Irish Bank Resolution Corp. declined comment.

While Sarasota City Attorney Robert Fournier confirmed that GreenPoint President Grady Miars met City Manager Tom Barwin on Jan. 7, he said no contract of sale on the property has yet been signed.

Long history in Southwest Florida

GreenPointe is headed Edward E. Burr, a longtime Florida developer who suffered from real estate-related financial woes in the run-up to the Great Recession, and Roger Postlethwaite, an internationally renowned land planner with a long history in Southwest Florida.

Postlethwaite quarterbacked the 1,300-acre Meadows development in Sarasota County for British builder Taylor Woodrow PLC in the 1970s, and later helped design and manage perhaps the region's most prominent real estate development, Lakewood Ranch.

Since its foundation in 2008, GreenPointe has spent at least $50 million to buy 10 stalled projects in Florida — and it remains on the acquisition trail. But the company's top executive has not avoided controversy.

Before forming GreenPointe, Burr was the chief executive of LandMar Group LLC, a Jacksonville company that was developing more than 30 residential communities in the Carolinas, Georgia, Texas, Arizona and Florida in the mid-2000s.

Among its projects was the Shipyards, a $450 million, 40-acre residential, retail and office development on Jacksonville's riverfront.

Like countless other developers in Florida and nationwide, Burr's company was foundering by late 2006 under the load of excess debt and weakening demand from buyers. Many of his projects, including the Shipyards, were shelved.

In 2009, LandMar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors, listing $1.5 billion in debts. But Burr had left the company in November 2007 after arranging a series of deals that allegedly left him personally better off than the company he founded.

According to a lawsuit filed against him by a Texas bankruptcy trustee in February 2011, LandMar borrowed $1.925 million from its parent company — a joint venture between Duke Energy Corp. and Morgan Stanley — to pay Burr's 2006 personal income tax bill.

Burr then arranged a buyout deal in which he exchanged his 20 percent stake in LandMar for $4.5 million and the forgiveness of $71 million in debt.

In the lawsuit, bankruptcy trustee Dan Bensimon accused Burr of fraudulent transfers, arguing the developer had inflated the value of LandMar properties so he could get a bigger payout from the parent company.

LandMar became "burdened with enormous amounts of debt issued on the basis of inflated asset values and ill-conceived real estate developments," Bensimon wrote in his suit. "Burr chose not to go down with the LandMar ship, opting instead to be the first into the life boat."

Burr denied the charges, saying Bensimon's suit lacked factual information to support any intent to defraud. The suit was settled two years later. Terms were not disclosed.

A prominent businessman in Jacksonville, Burr has served as the chairman of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, was appointed by the governor to the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, and recently became a Florida State University director.

Lakewood Ranch, Meadows ties

Postlethwaite has been closely tied to Burr for more than a decade.

He served as chief operating officer at LandMar and joined Burr at GreenPointe soon after the company's formation.

In Southwest Florida, during the 1970s, Postlethwaite headed Taylor Woodrow's Meadows development, which includes 4,000 homes and a country club. A decade later, he was called on to plan the massive community that would later become Lakewood Ranch.

Postlethwaite even came up with the name, after assisting Schroeder-Manatee Ranch executives in creating a broad master plan that divided the 28,000-acre property into a collection of villages marketed to different categories of homebuyers.

In 1992, Postlethwaite was named president of Schroeder-Manatee's development company, and remained in that position until he joined Burr and LandMar seven years later.

Since its creation, GreenPointe has been collecting remnants of LandMar failed developments. It bought the Southern Hills development, in Brooksville, and a project known as River Hall for $2.4 million, or more than $60 million less than the value of those properties in 2007, according to Bensimon's suit.

Court records in Florida also show GreenPointe bought a development called Bridgewater in Lakeland for just under $3 million, or $10 million less than Burr's previous company had paid for the property in January 2005.

His firm has completed its acquisitions by raising millions of dollars in equity from investors.

"GreenPointe Holdings is in a unique position to operate without the burden of failed projects and excessive debt from distressed real estate assets that many developers and builders currently face," Burr said in a 2010 press release.

<p><em>SARASOTA</em> - The terms of the deal have not been finalized, but it appears a Jacksonville development company is poised to buy one of downtown's premier properties — the former Sarasota Quay.</p><p>GreenPointe Holdings LLC, which has been buying distressed developments in Florida at rapid clip since 2010, sent its president to meet with Sarasota's city manager earlier this week.</p><p>An email message from the firm's attorney to Sarasota Mayor Shannon Snyder confirms that GreenPointe intends to buy the 14-acre, waterfront property between the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota and the Hyatt Regency.</p><p>The former Quay land has been vacant since early 2007, when an Irish developer razed the nine-story Quay as part of $1 billion plan to develop the site with hundreds of condominiums, retail space and restaurants, a hotel and offices.</p><p>Developer Irish American Management Services Ltd. was unable to bring its plan to fruition when the local real estate market collapsed. In August, a successor to lender Anglo-Irish Bank PLC seized the property through foreclosure.</p><p>Anglo-Irish was absorbed by an Irish government entity established to deal with soured real estate loans. In the case of the Quay, Irish American had amassed roughly $100 million in debt on the property.</p><p>It could not be determined whether GreenPointe — if it acquires the land — will attempt to develop the 695 residences, 175-room hotel rooms and 189,000 square feet of commercial space Irish American had planned.</p><p>Representatives from GreenPointe did not return calls, and an agent for the Irish Bank Resolution Corp. declined comment.</p><p>While Sarasota City Attorney Robert Fournier confirmed that GreenPoint President Grady Miars met City Manager Tom Barwin on Jan. 7, he said no contract of sale on the property has yet been signed.</p><p><b>Long history in Southwest Florida</b></p><p>GreenPointe is headed Edward E. Burr, a longtime Florida developer who suffered from real estate-related financial woes in the run-up to the Great Recession, and Roger Postlethwaite, an internationally renowned land planner with a long history in Southwest Florida.</p><p>Postlethwaite quarterbacked the 1,300-acre Meadows development in Sarasota County for British builder Taylor Woodrow PLC in the 1970s, and later helped design and manage perhaps the region's most prominent real estate development, Lakewood Ranch.</p><p>Since its foundation in 2008, GreenPointe has spent at least $50 million to buy 10 stalled projects in Florida — and it remains on the acquisition trail. But the company's top executive has not avoided controversy.</p><p>Before forming GreenPointe, Burr was the chief executive of LandMar Group LLC, a Jacksonville company that was developing more than 30 residential communities in the Carolinas, Georgia, Texas, Arizona and Florida in the mid-2000s. </p><p>Among its projects was the Shipyards, a $450 million, 40-acre residential, retail and office development on Jacksonville's riverfront.</p><p>Like countless other developers in Florida and nationwide, Burr's company was foundering by late 2006 under the load of excess debt and weakening demand from buyers. Many of his projects, including the Shipyards, were shelved.</p><p>In 2009, LandMar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors, listing $1.5 billion in debts. But Burr had left the company in November 2007 after arranging a series of deals that allegedly left him personally better off than the company he founded.</p><p>According to a lawsuit filed against him by a Texas bankruptcy trustee in February 2011, LandMar borrowed $1.925 million from its parent company — a joint venture between Duke Energy Corp. and Morgan Stanley — to pay Burr's 2006 personal income tax bill.</p><p>Burr then arranged a buyout deal in which he exchanged his 20 percent stake in LandMar for $4.5 million and the forgiveness of $71 million in debt.</p><p>In the lawsuit, bankruptcy trustee Dan Bensimon accused Burr of fraudulent transfers, arguing the developer had inflated the value of LandMar properties so he could get a bigger payout from the parent company.</p><p>LandMar became "burdened with enormous amounts of debt issued on the basis of inflated asset values and ill-conceived real estate developments," Bensimon wrote in his suit. "Burr chose not to go down with the LandMar ship, opting instead to be the first into the life boat."</p><p>Burr denied the charges, saying Bensimon's suit lacked factual information to support any intent to defraud. The suit was settled two years later. Terms were not disclosed.</p><p>A prominent businessman in Jacksonville, Burr has served as the chairman of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, was appointed by the governor to the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, and recently became a Florida State University director.</p><p><b>Lakewood Ranch, Meadows ties</b></p><p>Postlethwaite has been closely tied to Burr for more than a decade.</p><p>He served as chief operating officer at LandMar and joined Burr at GreenPointe soon after the company's formation.</p><p>In Southwest Florida, during the 1970s, Postlethwaite headed Taylor Woodrow's Meadows development, which includes 4,000 homes and a country club. A decade later, he was called on to plan the massive community that would later become Lakewood Ranch. </p><p>Postlethwaite even came up with the name, after assisting Schroeder-Manatee Ranch executives in creating a broad master plan that divided the 28,000-acre property into a collection of villages marketed to different categories of homebuyers.</p><p>In 1992, Postlethwaite was named president of Schroeder-Manatee's development company, and remained in that position until he joined Burr and LandMar seven years later.</p><p>Since its creation, GreenPointe has been collecting remnants of LandMar failed developments. It bought the Southern Hills development, in Brooksville, and a project known as River Hall for $2.4 million, or more than $60 million less than the value of those properties in 2007, according to Bensimon's suit.</p><p>Court records in Florida also show GreenPointe bought a development called Bridgewater in Lakeland for just under $3 million, or $10 million less than Burr's previous company had paid for the property in January 2005.</p><p>His firm has completed its acquisitions by raising millions of dollars in equity from investors.</p><p>"GreenPointe Holdings is in a unique position to operate without the burden of failed projects and excessive debt from distressed real estate assets that many developers and builders currently face," Burr said in a 2010 press release.</p>